The past three weeks has been jammed full of designing for me. I have been working on a project that is larger than any other design project I have yet undertaken. When I started the process I seriously doubted my abilities to complete it, especially given the time that I was given to finish it. Well, I did it. I didn’t do it on time, and I am sure that I will have to make lots of changes, but…I DID IT! I am so very happy! It has truly pushed me to greater heights. 24 original designs in three weeks. That is A LOT for me. I can’t tell you what it is for yet, but it will be really fun to share! I can’t wait to show you where three weeks of my life went.

I rewarded myself early for all of my hard work. Last week I bought myself a shiny new iPad 2. Can I tell you how excited I am? In fact, this is how I feel…..

I have wanted one for a long time, but I have been making myself wait until the 2nd generation came out. Now I feel complete. I have justified this expense by downloading several drawing apps. I figured I could draw on it and then it could be a business expense. So the above doddle is brought to you by Adobe Ideas for the iPad. I am not sure if it is the best app out there, but I do like the way it automatically cleans up lines. If anyone knows of an app that you has anchor points on the lines PLEASE let me know! I would love to hear what apps you love so I can fill up all of the space with useful and useless things.

This one measures 33x39 inches / 80x96cm and is perfect for that little cuddly baby you want to keep warm - but you can also just make it bigger by adding more diamonds to the sides if you prefer.

And don’t be afraid of those diamonds, I show you that you absolutely have nothing to fear, we just have to use a bit more pins then we usually do :)

Supplies:

*Some large scraps of your choice – I used 12” squares from all 21 prints of Sweet Divinity

*White fabric for the sashing – ¾ yard

*Fabric of your choice for backing – 1 yard (or 1 ¼ yard if you plan on using a directional print) and binding – ½ yard

*Template for the diamonds

*Pins

*Rotary cutter, cutting mat, and ruler

*Iron

*Your sewing machine

*A bit of time

Steps:

1. Prepare your fabrics and press nicely.

2. Create the template for your diamonds: First draw a cross on a sheet of paper. Measure 4 ¾ inches across and 7¾ inches upright and mark the axes of your cross there.

Now, you have to connect those marks to each other and add your seam allowances and you get this:

And if you want your template to be bigger you just add some inches to either side of the cross...

3. Lay the template on your fabric. If you have enough fabric chose nice areas of the prints like those big flowers of Sweet Divinity. My diamonds are cut on the bias because I wanted to represent the prints as accurately as possible. If you use fabric without directions in their prints then chose to cut your diamonds with the edges on the grain. It will be much easier to piece.

4. Cut out your fabric and make sure that all your seam allowances are correct. I used 35 entire diamonds and 12 half diamonds that were cut horizontally (for the north and south ends of the quilt) and 7 half diamonds that were cut vertically (for the east and west ends of the quilt) . If you have a lot of fabric you can just cut 44 entire diamonds and cut 6 of them in half horizontally and 4 of them in half vertically.

5. Cut your white fabric into sashing strips. Mine are 1” wide. If you use a seam allowance of ¼ “ then your sashing strip should be cut 1 ½ “ wide.

6. Lay out your diamonds and arrange them in an order that you like.

7. Take a picture with your camera so that you won’t forget your order or label little pieces of paper and stick one to each diamond.

8. Take one of your sashing strips and begin to chain piece your diamonds to it. Please make sure that your diamonds don’t shift or lose their shape by either feeding then into your sewing machine with the sashing strips on top or pinning the diamonds to the sashing strips.

9. Remember to leave enough space at the end of each strip because we will make a diagonal cut after each diamond. Repeat until you have either all left or all right, bottom or up sides of the diamonds pieced to sashing strips. If a half diamond doesn’t have that specific side because it is sitting at one of the ends of the quilt just leave it.

10. Take the strips and press the seams to one side. Repeat until all strips and their diamonds are pressed.

11. Now align your ruler to the edge of the diamonds and cut along the diamonds and the attached sashing. You should now have 35 diamonds, 5 horizontally cut in half diamonds, and 4 vertically cut in half diamonds with sashing attached to one side.

12. Lay them out in the order you wanted. You will now have rows that have sashing between them and rows that don’t.

13. Now attach the diamonds that have sashing between them to each other. This step is a little tricky because it involves matching diagonally cut seams but don’t worry, with a bit of precision this is really nothing scary.

14. Take two diamonds that lay next to each other. You can draw a little line with a disappearing marker on the sashing at the exact spot where your seams will meet at one edge. Alternatively, you can stick a pin there or cut a tiny mark with your scissors. Now match that spot to the seam allowance of the diamond next in line. Pin along the sashing using a lot of pins because the diamonds are cut on the bias and are more likely to shift.

15. Sew and press your seams to one side.

16. Take another sashing strip and pin it to one of the long sides of the rows you just created. If a sashing strip is not long enough, piece two together. It is important here that you pin a lot. If you cut your diamonds on the bias your rows will want to shift and pinning will prevent this. I usually try to avoid pins whenever possible but it is vital to use them here or you will have to undo your seams because your quilt top will be too wonky to be quilted.

17. Sew and press your seams to one side.

18. Now comes the most difficult step! We now have many rows and each of them has a sashing strip running down one side. They now need to be connected to each other. Take two of your rows (that lay next to each other) and a ruler.

Align the ruler with the seam of each diamond that runs crosswise to the sashing you have just sewn on. Mark or pin the spot where the ruler and the outer edge of that sashing meet. Let your pin stick out a bit over your fabric edge. You should have at least one mark for each diamond.

19. Now we match those marks on the sashing of one row to the seams of the diamonds on the next row, pin like crazy (important!) and sew them together.

20. Repeat with all rows and press your seams to one side. You should now have a wonderful quilt top that you can back, baste, and quilt.

21. If you are like me you would have to learn how to free motion quilt first, but I am sure that straight line quilting would also look fabulous on this one!

22. Enjoy!

If you have any questions or pictures of your project (yay!) you can leave a little message on my blog or email me (the address is in my profile on my blog).

My mom is a watercolor artist. She has been painting for a very long time. Once a week she volunteers at a local senior center teaching two watercolor classes. She has done this for….well I am not sure, but more than 15 years. My little boy (who isn’t so little anymore) is off track for the next three weeks and so he went to art class today with Grandma. He has gone before, but got bored after about an hour. Not today! He spent the ENTIRE day painting. He has been really into art lately as they have been studying different artists at school as part of a “Meet the Masters” program.

Here he is with his Grandma and one of his paintings. It is a waterfall in the jungle.

This is another one of his paintings…

This one blows my mind! Let me tell you why. About a month ago, they learned about Paul Klee at school. He has been talking about this painting that Paul Klee did of a drummer boy. Well, even though I studied art history, Paul Klee wasn’t coming up in my mind. I couldn’t remember anything he had done. So when the big boy fish brought this painting home and said he had painted The Drummer Boy by Paul Klee I thought I better look it up.

T

“Not exact” you might say. True! But he painted it FROM MEMORY! And he’s 7!!!! I know, I know. I am a proud mom. I absolutely love to see children expressing themselves through art. I love that something that is so powerful to me is beginning to have power in the life of my son. It is a dream come true. Really. Weird? Maybe. But I cannot imagine a world without art, without color and without people who are brave enough to do something different. Can you?

Would you like to hear about a super fun way to show off your sewing skills and maybe win some cool prizes?

They are GIVING AWAY this bike!!! I want, want, want. I saw this bike and actually sat on it (you may remember from an earlier post) and I really do want it. Hand painted fenders, hand stitched seat….it is TO DIE FOR. You want this. I promise! They are also giving away a cruise! WOWZERS! If you click on the pic it will take you to the website, but I am also including a downloadable PDF for you to print and hang on your wall. There are three separate categories that you can enter in. They are clothing, quilts and home decor.

I would love to see what you come up with…so be sure to use some Sugar and Spice in your lovely creations!

HI! I am Jackie from Jackie's Art Quilts. It is my turn to show you a tutorial. I am so thrilled for this opportunity to post on Amanda's blog and to meet you.

I love scarves! I wear them several times a week. And I don't mean winter scarves, although they are delightful too. I mean beautiful scarves to wear with a T-shirt, or with a lovely blouse. A scarf to dress you up, or make your casual attire look extra special.

I have a closet full of scarves. But none are as gorgeous or funky as the tutorial I am about to share with you today. The options really are limitless and I do hope you make one up and send me a pic of it.

Supplies:

You will need some very pretty fabric. I used Sweet Divinity, of course!

A few fun buttons or cute embellishments, Amanda sells some great ones.

I won't tell you specific measurements because you use different lengths of your fabric to make it work. You will be aiming for a total length of 64”. I used pieces that were 4-10" long and they have to be 6" wide and 10" wide.

Instructions:

1. Cut several pieces of fabric out 10" wide and of varying lengths. The different lengths will add character to your scarf.

2. Sew, using a 1/4" seam, the pieces together to make a 64" long scarf.

3. Then do this again, but this time the width only has to be 6" wide and still 64" long. Make sure the second one is different from the first one. Even if you are using the same fabrics, like I did, just mix them up and vary the length of them. So you will end up with 2 pieces each 64" long, one 6" wide and one 10" wide.

4. Press the seams to one side.

5. Take your 6"x 64" piece and you are going to cut it into two 3" x 64" strips.

6. Now take your other big piece, the 10" x 64" piece and about 4" in from one narrow end you are going to cut a curvy line from one narrow end to the other. Make your curves gradual and not to steep, easier for sewing.

7. Take the small 4" curvy strip and set it aside for now. We are going to work with the bigger piece, now called the scarf.

8. Take one of your previously cut 3 x 64" strips.Lining up the narrow ends, place it slightly under the curved line of the scarf. You just want it under enough so that you can follow the curved line and cut into the 3" strip, making the same curves all the way along.

9. Then turn over right sides together and stitch from one end right to the other. Open up and press.

10. Take the curved strip you had put aside and now place it just slightly over top of the edge of the straight strip you have just sewn on.

11. You need to make this straight edge curvy. So again, cut along following the curved edge.

12. Place right sides together and stitch. Open and press seams to one side. It should look like this now.

13. Starting 4" in from the other side of the scarf, you are going to cut another curvy line from one end to the other.

14. Repeat steps #7-13.

It should look something like this.

15. Trim the narrow ends up and press under 1/4".

16. Place right sides together, the length of the scarf. Stitch right down the whole length. Turn right side out.

It should now look similar to the picture below, like a big long open ended tube.

17. Here comes the super fun part - embellishing the ends. If you love the look of it now, then simply sew up the ends. If you want to funk it up a bit, read on.

18. I drew a shape of 1/2 a flower and cut 8 of them out of fabric. I then fused each half flower to another half flower, ending up with 4 half flowers. Tuck 2 of them into one end, and sew right across. Repeat on the other end.

19. I added buttons to the center of the flowers. If you never want to worry about which way the scarf is being worn, sew buttons to both sides of the flower so it is completely reversible. Amanda also sent some lovely white crochet flowers, so I added them a little further up the end of the scarf.

20. If you don't want the flowers, you could add a pompom border or a ruffled border too. The variations are endless. Now get out there and strut your stuff!

Don't mind that I am out in the middle of winter for the pictures. The light and view were so much better than inside my house.

I had the most wonderful night last night. My dear friend Connie is part of the most wonderful quilt guild. I went last night because they had purchased Sugar and Spice to use in a project. They are always so wonderful to support me and welcome me. I just love these ladies! The quilt they are making is SO cute. I absolutely love it! Their whole guild got kits to make the quilt.

Anyway….Connie has me come to the front and I am joking with her about giving me the quilt. Then she tells me that it is for me. The guild donated the fabric for the front and Riley Blake donated fabric for the back and binding. Connie pieced and quilted it. CAN YOU BELIEVE THAT? I couldn’t. It was amazing. What a kind and wonderful thing! Here is the honest truth about the whole thing. I am so so touched to have the quilt, but I am even more touched to have a friend that would do something so amazing for me. If you only knew how much I love Connie! She has gone to market with me twice AND both times paid for herself to go. She works so hard and is so incredible. I am just the luckiest girl in the world to have a friend like her. I will treasure this quilt forever, just as I will treasure her friendship. Thanks so much to the Corner Canyon Quilters and to my lovely friend Connie. You are all the best!

Guess what else? Today I picked up a few rolls of laminated cotton to send to my team! This laminated fabric is A-MAZING!

I just can’t wait to see what my team comes up with for this fabric. They are also each getting one of these:

Lucky girls? I should say so! Look at the other fun things I got from Riley Blake…

That is RIBBON to match Sugar and Spice!!!!!!!!!!!!! I am dying. Seriously.

Look at these darling buttons! 2” of fun! I will be adding them to my website and I have them in four colors. Green (shown), teal, red and pink. Yum! And is your heart racing over the GIANT pom pom fringe? Mine is. I have this in red and white. I don’t know if I am going to share any of it. I also have no idea what I am going to do with it!

I can’t wipe the smile off my face today. Super happy. It is a great feeling!

OH! Another great tutorial will be up tomorrow from my team! So be sure to come by and see what Jackie did!

Last Friday I had a great time teaching a make and take class at a Riley Blake open house. I have SO much fun with the people there. I really look forward to these events. I taught how to make a fun little project out of laminated fabric…

They are game boards! Checkers and Tic Tac Toe! And are you dying over those buttons…I mean game pieces??? They are a new Riley Blake product from their Sew Together line. You can see a full tutorial for these boards at the Riley Blake Cutting Corners Blog first thing on Tuesday (3/15) morning.

Look at some of the projects that were there that I took pictures of….

A BIG hello to everyone! My name is Candice, and I blog about my crafting adventures over at Made With Love. I'll be the first to admit that I am so excited to be here today, sharing my Sweet Divinity Flower Pillow Tutorial! With that, I want to send a big thank you to Amanda for choosing me as part of her talented Design Team! Okay, enough chitter chatter, let's get started...ladies start your sewing machines (hehehe)! :)

Materials:

Fabric Scraps

13" x 13" Quilt Batting

14" Zipper

14" x 14" Pillow Form

Decorative Buttons

Thread

Water Soluble Marking Pen

Sewing Machine

1. Select Main Focus Fabric and 12 (twelve) coordinating fabrics.

2. Cut one 6.25" square from the Main Focus Fabric for the center of the pillow, and 12 (twelve) 1.75" wide strips. Fabric strips must range in length from 6.25" to 13.5" (see diagram for details). Should you need approximate measurements for length, please refer to the list below, however it Is freeing just to sew and trim as you go!

3. With a 1/4" seam allowance, sew the first strip to the top of the 6.25" square and trim the strip to match the length of the Main Focus square. Press seam towards the darker fabric.

4. Continue to sew the strips to the 6.25" square, according to the diagram from Step #2. When the first four strips of fabric are sewn to the Main Focus square, trim a 1/4" off of two sides of the fabric, so that the completed square measures 8.5". Refer to diagram, as strip #1 and #2 should be the strips that are trimmed.

5. Repeat Step #4, trimming 1/4" off of the two fabric strips that are diagonal from the two fabric strips that were trimmed in Step #4, so that the completed square measures 10.75". Refer to diagram, as strip #7 and #8 should be the strips that are trimmed.

6. Repeat Step #4, trimming 1/4" off of the two fabric strips that are diagonal from the two fabric strips that were trimmed in Step #5, so that the completed square measures 13" (one inch less that the pillow form). Refer to diagram, as strip #11 and #12 should be the strips that are trimmed.

8. Pin the quilt batting behind the pillow front. Arrange flowers within the Main Focus square and sew on the leaves.

9. For the flowers, fold a circle in half.

Then fold over the left side a third of the way over.

Flip the flower over and fold over the remaining piece.

Repeat 6 (six) times and pin each piece to the pillow, in a circle.

10. Sew the flowers, beginning with a tight circle towards the middle, continuing to spiral outwards.

After all of the flowers are sewn on, choose 3 (three) decorative buttons and sew one button in the center of each flower.

11. For the backing, cut 2 (two) pieces measuring 4.75" x 13" and 8.25" x 13". In addition, cut a 2.5" x 13" piece from a contrasting fabric for the flap, which will cover the zipper, and press in half lengthwise (wrong sides together).

12. Place the folded pillow flap between the backing and zipper, right sides together. Sew with zipper foot, and press seam towards backing.

13. Fold back the flap, making sure to not catch it in the seam and pin the second piece of backing to the zipper, right sides together.

14. With right sides together, sew the front of the pillow to the backing (make sure to open the zipper enough before sewing to turn the completed pillow right side out), with a 1/4" seam allowance. Trim corners and the excess zipper length and turn the pillow right side out.

15. Enjoy!

I hope you love the pillow as much as I do! If you decide to make a flower pillow of your own, please feel free to share photos of your pillow with me at squirmywormstudio@gmail.com (as I would love to have the chance to oooh and awww over all of the variations!). I hope to see you all around! :)

I know, I know…I’m late. I don’t like being late. So I must apologize!

Here they are! The winners of the give away!

Carole M won the Rolie Polie of Sugar and Spice

Mariliz won the pack of 10” squares of Sugar and Spice

Debra won the pack of 5” squares of Sugar and Spice

Alexandra A won a $50 gift certificate to Jane and Me

Jezibels won a $50 gift certificate to Jane and Me

I will contact all of the winners individually so that you will know for sure if it is you! If you would like to get in on another give away, go visit my friend Amy at Amyscreativeside.com. She has a sponsored give away going on and she is giving away Sugar and Spice fabric! Yay! So go over and enter there!